Mamata Banerjee’s jamboree is being touted as a massive success after it spawned investment proposals worth ₹4.4 lakh crore — the largest commitment of funds from India’s best-known conglomerates in any of the eight editions of the Bengal Global Business Summit.

“I am extremely happy,” a beaming chief minister remarked at the end of the two-day event that witnessed participation from industry titans like Mukesh Ambani and Sajjan Jindal, among others.

The rake-in at the previous summit in 2023 was ₹3.76 lakh crore.

“We have received investment proposals worth ₹440,595 crore in BGBS 2025…. More than 5,000 investor delegates attended the BGBS. We have seen 212 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and letters of intent (LoIs) signed during this summit covering numerous sectors. Many are in the process of forming tie-ups,” Mamata said.

She claimed that the seven earlier editions of the event had together received investment proposals worth ₹19 lakh crore. Out of this, projects worth ₹13 lakh crore had been completed and others worth ₹6 lakh crore were in the pipeline.

Mamata drew attention to the ONGC oil exploration project at Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas.

“We have given 15 acres of land at ₹1 to ONGC in Ashoknagar. They have successfully discovered oil and gas, which will be exploited commercially. We are supporting the ONGC initiative and will be giving a petroleum mining lease too,” she said.

The ONGC had announced “commercial” production from the block back in December 2020. However, further development was stalled in the absence of a mining lease from the state. Mamata said Ambani and Jindal had met her separately and showed interest in areas not covered in their speech on Wednesday.

Before the chief minister took the stand, the chairs of the industry sub-committees spoke about the developments in their sectors. Mehul Mohanka, co-chair of the manufacturing sector committee, said seven MoUs had been signed between government agencies and the private sector.

The investment proposals include seven textile units in Howrah, Hooghly, North 24-Parganas and Nadia, three industrial parks by the Ram Niwas Group for ₹1,300 crore and an investment of around ₹2,000 crore in plastic-based units, Mohanka said.

Sanjay Budhia, co-chair of the trade and logistics sector panel, highlighted initiatives like the inauguration of an export clinic, the signing of 72 MoUs relating to food processing, and the identification of products from 11 districts for global marketing, among others.

Rudra Chatterjee, co-chair of the tourism sector committee, said seven MoUs had been signed, including one with Park Hotels for a hotel with a golf course in Siliguri. He said 50 conferences were scheduled in the coming year.

Rupak Barua, co-chair of the healthcare sector panel, said the sector had received investment proposals worth ₹9,368 crore, and 23 letters of intent had been handed over. These will create 20,000 jobs, he said.

While the BJP and the Left slammed the numbers projected by the state, many industry observers said they were pleased with the submission of concrete proposals, notably from the Reliance and JSW groups.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari described the investment figures as the “biggest lie in the world”. Md Salim of the CPM accused the chief minister of making tall claims that were never realised.

Among the notable MoUs and LoIs announced at the session were ones between the state’s power department and JSW Energy; the non-conventional energy department and TERI; the higher education department and the British Council; the transport department and Antara Cruises; the higher education department and Microsoft; the West Bengal State Export Promotion Society and Amazon India; the MSME department and the Central Leather Research Institute; the Silesian University of Poland and Adamas University; the state tourism department and ITC and the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Iskraemeco India will establish an integrated factory to make smart meters while NTT Global, ST Telemedia and CtrlS will set up data centres. Belle Vue Clinic will set up two new hospitals; Birla Opus will build a paint manufacturing plant at Kharagpur.

Prayag Polymers will expand its operations at Andal, and the Rausheena group will establish an ethanol production plant in East Burdwan. Plans are afoot to expand the Calcutta Leather Complex.